plant clinic

Kanyumbu village is a compact rural farming village in Lilongwe district in Malawi. Farmers in this village mostly produce maize, beans, and mangoes from a few trees scattered in their fields. In 2013, they received a new service from the Department of Agriculture; a plant clinic, with a plant doctor. They were informed that they could present any crop affected by pests and diseases, or that was simply ‘not looking normal’. The plant doctor could examine the crop samples, diagnose the problem and tell them what was ailing their crops. On the spot, the plant doctor could provide advice on how to manage the crop pests and problems.

Two plant clinics were set up in the CABI pavilion at the recent Agri Expo in Lahore

The Agriculture Department in Pakistan recently organised a two-day agriculture expo (23-24 June 2018) at the Expo center Lahore. The aim of the expo was to introduce recent interventions and advances in the agriculture sector to both farming and non-farming communities.

E-plant clinics have been successfully launched in Mozambique this November, following two trainings and official launches. The trainings took place in a village called Tenga, Moamba near the capital city of Maputo (around 80 km), and in Morrumbene District near the city of Inhambane.

Training was delivered in partnership with the National Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DNEA), an institution of the Ministry of Agriculture in Mozambique.

Mrs. Eugenia Arivalo, a coffee producer of 57 years old who lives in the province of Pioja and one of the many women who seek the support of the Plant clinics, states that the recommendations that she receives are effective and help implementing good management practices. “I’m always attending Plant clinic sessions for the scheduled dates, it’s an opportunity to learn and bring back this knowledge to my family and to the land where we work”- said Mrs. Arivalo.

As the last part of our data management trip, Claire and I headed to Bangkok for the 11th and 12th of September. We joined a group of plant doctors and farmers at the plant clinic/rally in Nong Kung village, Suppaya district, Chainat province. We saw a demonstration on biocontrol, looked through pamphlets and information available to farmers about crop problems, and discussed the rice harvest which was currently taking place. In the backstopping training at the Rice Department, the participants shared their concerns and plans for future data management in Thailand.

After our stay in Cambodia, Claire and I continued on our way to Hanoi, Vietnam on September 8th and 9th. From there we drove out to Hưng Yên province, visiting two plant clinics and an agro-dealer. We had the opportunity to speak with farmers and plant doctors about how clinics are going, and how useful they can be for farmers to seek advice on their crops. On the way, we enjoyed some pomelo and longans, and shared a cup of tea. Afterwards, we headed back to the city and facilitated a backstopping training session about data management for 6 participants. Together, we identified bottlenecks in the data flow process, and discussed how they can be improved.

On the morning of April 22nd , plant doctor and clinic coordinator Flavia Felix Huanca (pictured here) held a plant clinic for local farmers. They brought in samples of their crops which various problems, asking for her advice to diagnose what was wrong. This plant clinic, supported by training from Plantwise and the global Plantwise knowledge bank, runs every other Tuesday at a regular local fair. This is the EEA Plant Clinic of Santa Ana -Huancayo, in Municipalidad Distrital de Pucara.

Follow

Subscribe

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Sign up for fall armyworm updates

If you would like to hear about the latest fall armyworm news from CABI please sign up here.

Contribute

If you are active in the field of plant health or development and would like to contribute to the Plantwise Blog, please contact Donna Hutchinson. We are happy to post any credible articles that we think would be of interest to our readership.

Views expressed in contributions do not necessarily reflect official CABI or Plantwise positions.